The Heartfilia Heir
by Shispanic
Summary: It is the year X791, The Fairy Tail Guild's missing members have just been found and returned to their homes in Magnolia. Jake Heartfilia hears the news and heads for Mangolia to finally meet his younger sister, Lucy Heartfilia. Some mild language and violent scenes. This is my first time posting one of my stories so I would love to hear your reviews.
1. Welcome to Magnolia

Prologue

"Did you hear? The Fairy Tail members that were lost suddenly reappeared. It's a miracle that they are still alive."

"That is impossible, it's been almost eight years since they disappeared, and who cares, Fairy Tail is a joke.

Jake whipped around and grabbed the man by his coat, "What do you know about the members of Fairy Tail that returned."

"No… Nothing, I just heard that they had reappeared and we spotted in Magnolia."

He let go of him and began running towards the edge of town. He had only one thing on his mind, his little sister, Lucy Heartfilia.

Chapter 1

Jake felt out of breath and was incredibly tired, he had gone the last three days walking without sleep, but it was all about to pay off, he had finally reached Magnolia. As he walked into town he began to worry, how would she take learning of his existence and would she even believe his story? He continued walking and was so deep into thought that he almost ran over a small boy with dark hair, "Hey watch where you are going, you can't just phase out." He said.

"Sorry..." and then I saw his arm, that emblem, "... wait, you're from Fairy Tail aren't you?

"Yes, I am, I bet you want to join, right? We are the greatest guild after all."

"Not exactly, I'm looking for someone, a girl. She is a member of the guild."

"Not really a helpful description, there are many girls in the guild, but I'll take you to our guild hall and see if I can't help find who you're trying to find. My name is Romeo, how about you."

"Nice to meet you Romeo, my name is Jake. I hope you can help me, I've been searching for her for almost eight years."

"Won't know until we try, follow me." Romeo began walking down the road towards the far corner of town. He was very energetic, and seemed to be happy to help me out.

"So why is this person so important for you to find. It might not be any of my business, but why are you looking for someone in Fairy Tail."

"She's my sister, and…" I fell into deep thought, I kept thinking about the day I left, she doesn't even know I exist. I left before she was even old enough to walk, why do I have a right to see her. I had always kept tabs on her, and made sure she was safe, but does that make me worthy of calling her my sister?

"Hey you still in there?" Romeo said, he was looking at me with concern. I nodded at him, "Good," he said, "you have really gotta work on phasing out, you could get hurt if you aren't paying attention and something happens."

"Yeah, I just have a lot on my mind. Anyway, she is my sister, and I can't bear losing her. I need to find her."

"Well hopefully we find her, I almost lost my dad once, if I lost my family… I really don't know what I would do without my family." He looked up towards the sky as we walked, deep in thought, but still happy. It was as if no matter what happened that day, that it would be a good day.

"Well, well, what do we have here? A little fairy and his friend. What, are you two doing a little job? How cute, but I think that you need to learn a lesson. After that little incident this week we owe you a beating." A man behind us said. Romeo spun around and stared at him, I peered over my shoulder and looked at him.

He was nothing much, 5'10', not very buff, but also not fat. He seemed average but I could feel magic power radiating from him, not much but he still posed a threat.

"Get out of here you Twilight Ogre punk, Fairy Tail has no more business with you." Romeo said, but I could tell that he was prepared to fight.

"Oh come on kid, that is no way to talk to your elder, or in this case, elders." As he was speaking I realized that he wasn't the only source of magic power, it was all around me. Three, no... five, other people were hiding. Just as he finished speaking they stepped out. We were surrounded

"Well kid, you have two choices from here. One, you give us all the money you have one you. Or two, you give us the satisfaction of beating the crap out of you and then we take your money." He was moving in and so were the others. Me and Romeo were back to back and I could feel his tension.

"Hey kid, don't worry about this, you're helping me so I'm gonna help you." I said to Romeo. "You guys really shouldn't bully little kids you know, not really a nice thing to do. Also, you should really be careful when you bully someone helping me."

"What are you going to do about it?" He snickered. They all chuckled and stared at us as if we were petty animals, waiting to be slaughtered. It didn't worry me though, none of them were that strong, I wouldn't even have to use my full power.

"I'm going to rip you apart. But I'm a nice guy so I'm going to give you a chance to back down. You have three seconds."

"You think we're scared of you two, there are six of us we outnumber you.

"One…"

"Oh yes, the counting is just so scary…"

"Two…"

"Almost there, lets have some fun…"

"Three. Times up, too bad for you. This is going to be fun." The ground beneath me began to shake, and I could feel my insides changing. The hair on my body began to turn golden and change, I could feel my nails growing and my teeth sharpening.

"Romeo, stay calm, I just need you to sit back and watch." The change was almost done and I could feel myself turning into a lion, "Celestial Soul, Leo the Lion."

I took one step forward with my front right paw, I bared my teeth and stared at my foes.

"Is this the best you have, this is pathetic." I firmly planted my feet, and began to growl. I could feel the roar building up. I let it out and watched as they fell backwards in fear of me.

I stared at them and took one step forward, beginning to growl again. They began to run in fear of what I was. As soon as they were gone I changed back, Romeo stared at me with curiosity, but before he spoke I put up my hand.

"I know you are curious, but I really need to find my sister. Just wait until we find her and then I'll explain everything."

He nodded and we continued on our way to Fairy Tail's guild hall.


	2. A Trip Down Memory Lane

By the time we had reached the guild hall, the sun was already beginning down, the day had been burnt away and the energy I had used was catching up to me. As I took the last step up the hill I stumbled, I could feel my mind going hazy and my muscles locking up. I tried to say something to warn Romeo, but my voice wasn't there, I could see the ground coming closer and closer. I was about to slam into the ground but then I felt a soft breeze and saw a blur of black and pink

"Are you okay, that could have been a nasty fall." the boy said, I looked at me and he smiled, I looked into his eyes and saw nothing but happiness. I closed my eyes and let my body go limp, I knew I would be safe with him.

The world around me began to form, that huge mansion, fountains, and a rolling gardens. I was at home, the Heartfilia Mansion, before my family lost the right to it. I saw my parents, Jude and Layla, walking through the garden with a small boy. Layla was pregnant and the boy looked as if he was talking directly to the unborn child.

"You're my little, baby sister, Lucy. Even if we haven't met yet, I know that I'm going to like you, because we are family." He smiled, he was glowing with pride that in a few weeks he would be a proud brother to his new sister.

"Now Jacob, we haven't decided on a name for her yet, although, Lucy does have a beautiful ring to it." Jude said, he was glowing with happiness as they continued to walk through the garden. They continued walking, but the woman remained silent, she just stared at Jake and Jude as they played around. I couldn't help but crying, this was one of the greatest moments from his past, before he left, and before he changed. But his dream was quickly fading and he knew what would come next.

The light began to filter in and he could see himself, a little older than he was before, almost 12. People were laughing at him and he was bleeding from his mouth, his eyes looked wild and he was growling like an animal. Everyone around him was laughing and pointing as if he were a beast, put in a cage to be laughed and gawked at. Jake began to change, quickly he cycled through his spirit souls. First he grew a tail, then he morphed into a whole fish, he quickly shifted into a ram and charged the crowd but they moved. He continued to grow until he was a bull and began to attack but then the wizards appeared. Each used a different kind of magic meant to stop Jake from advancing, first was a fire mage, "Come on cow, I going to enjoy making you into a steak." Jake charged and I tried to yell at him to stop, but just like before I was nothing but watcher with no real ability to change anything. Before Jake made contact he changed back to human. The wizard wasn't hesitant though, he still had a large flame in his hand, but he didn't expect his clone. The second Jake kicked him in the back of the head causing him to stagger, while the first moved in to punch. The wizard was prepared, he grabbed him by the arm and launched him into his clone causing them to disappear in a puff of smoke.

"Where did he go, he couldn't have just disappeared, could he?"

"No he's here somewhere, don't let anything get passed you and look for anything… irregular. This kid is worth a lot of money and if he gets away now then we're all screwed." The men continued to bicker while they looked for him. Jake was a small crab hidden in the corner, I could feel the younger version of myself's weakness, he was running out of magic energy and would only last a few more minutes. He had to escape, but he had no where to go, two wizards were blocking the door, he had to fight or find another exit. He began to change again, growing into a lion, not fully grown, but still large enough to intimidate the wizards. One stepped forward and smirked, "We both know that you can't control your powers yet, your dear mother wasn't able to finish the training she started with you. I'm ain't afraid of some kid, especially not one who isn't in control." He put his hand up and taunted Jake, there was an eerie silence in the room, no one moved and you could feel the tension in the air.

Jake lunged quickly, but the man was ready, he moved his hand and a gust of wind launched Jake against the wall causing him to fall over. I could see that the younger version of myself was out of breath and consumed with rage. He spun around to kick-up dust and plunged into the ground before anyone could see him.

"Find him now, he might get away if we don't stop him." The man who challenged me said, but as he finished his sentence everyone was launched against the ceiling. They were crushed against the ceiling and rocks began to launch at the them. None of them were hurt by the rocks but they were terrified of Jake when he rose out of the ground with a bow and quiver full of arrows. He rapidly pulled arrows and pierced each wizard through some limb so that they were incapable of continuing to fight. The only one he didn't injure was their leader, the one who had challenged him before."So you decided to leave me as your challenger, huh, you must be dumber than I thought. This is a dark guild you know, I have no problem killing a kid." Jake didn't respond, but I knew that the anger inside of him was still building. The bow and arrow disappeared in a golden mist and he began to grow horns out of his head. He didn't fully change though, he rushed the man and felt him using his magic to blow him back, but his powers went far beyond growing horns.

"How are you still standing, this wind should he tearing the skin from your body. I will destroy you." As he said it the wind continued to pick up, but Jake wouldn't stop. He continued to run head first at him.

"I won't lose, you can't defeat us. There were so many of us and one of you, how can you be this strong."

"Because I am the son of Layla Heartfilia, the strongest celestial wizard in Fiore. I am the Heartfilia heir." The boy screamed as he reached the man. He picked up his hand and grabbed the man by the arm and pulled him close. "This is your punishment for your crimes." A large tail came from behind Jake and stabbed the wizard.

He instantly fell to the floor, foaming at the mouth and twitching from the poison he had just injected into his bloodstream. Jake knew that he would be dead in just under a minute. He looked down on the man with no remorse for his actions, then he turned away and walked toward the door, leaving all of the wizards to try and survive from their wounds.

I kicked and screamed for him to stop and try and save their live, but it was out of my hands. I had made my decision that day and I wouldn't be able to face my family anymore. Jake slammed the door behind me and the scene began to fade into a white light as I began to awaken from my slumber.

At first I couldn't see anything but white light, then a wooden roof came into focus, things were slowly coming back to me, but I still felt weak. How long had I been out? Who was that boy that stopped me from falling? I sat up and looked around, I was on a bed in some kind of back room. There were two people sitting next to his bed, a blond haired girl and the pink haired boy who had stopped him from falling. The girl was sleeping on his shoulder peacefully and the boy was staring out the window. They looked like a couple and so peaceful that I tried to stay quiet and let them spend some time together, but when I tried to lay back down the pink haired boy looked over.

"Sorry I didn't want to disturb you two, you both seemed to be so happy." I said, he stared at me for a moment and then smiled.

"Oh don't worry, she needed to wake up any way," he leaned over and shook her awake, "Hey Lucy, its time to get up, he's awake." she opened her eyes and stared at him, she was still half asleep but I could tell just by looking into her deep brown eyes, just like mom's. I stared at her in disbelief as tears started coming to my eyes, "I finally found you, my little sister, Lucy Heartfilia."


	3. Getting to Know Team Natsu

The room was silent, I could feel a tear forming in my eye, but I tried to choke down my emotions for the moment, I still was unfamiliar with the Fairy Tail guild, even if I had been researching their members since Lucy ran away from home. The Pink haired boy, Natsu Dragneel, or "The Salamander", can I trust him? My mind felt like it was going to explode from what I was thinking, but I could tell that Natsu was trying to pick me apart as well, assess if I was a threat or not. Lucy was broke the silence, "I don't have any siblings, I've been an only child since birth, give me one reason that I should believe what you say?"

"Why should you believe me?" I said as if I didn't understand the question, I was caught off guard by her disbelief. I opened my mouth, but I didn't have anything to say, how was I supposed to convince her of our relationship? Then it came to me, "Jude and Layla Heartfilia had one thing that they treasured more than anything else, a small golden locket, it is inscribed with two words. On the front it says Love and on the back…"

"... it says Lucky…" Lucy finished and pulled out a small, golden, heart shaped locket from around her neck. The exact locket that I had described, I didn't think she would have it in her possession and was shocked that she was wearing it. "I was given this on my third birthday by my mother and father, how did you know what it was and what it said?"

"Because, like I said, I'm your older brother."

"He's telling the truth, he smells just like you and your father." Natsu commented. I had almost forgotten he was in the room because of how quiet he had been, "Lucy, this guy is your brother, but I have one question. Why didn't you try and find her sooner?"

I explained my story of being kidnapped and killing the leader of the dark guild. They both sat quietly listening intently, holding onto each word and trying to understand why I had chosen now to return to Lucy.

"... and that is why I can't let my sister be at risk anymore, I want to be by her side so that I can protect her and be there for all the time I wasn't before." Just as I finished the door to my room opened and 5 people walked in. Well, three people walked in and two cats walked with them talking with each other about catching some bandits.

"Oh you guys are back, how was the last job?" Natsu said to the group of people who just walked in. They smiled back at him and the tall red-haired girl replied, "It was all right, I see the patient is getting better, good job Wendy."

"Oh it was no problem, I was just happy to be of help once in a while." The short blue haired one replied. She was young, she must be the sky-dragon slayer, Wendy Marvel. The red-haired one was confident and wearing armor, Erza Scarlet, Titania.

"Oh come on Wendy, those guys would have gotten away if you hadn't been there to block the exit." The boy with black hair, Gray Fullbuster, he didn't seem to be the strange boy that people had described. He was wearing a collared jacket and pants, not really the image of a stripper that people had talked of.

"Well, is he well enough to come on a job, or does he still not feel well?" Erza asked Natsu.

"How am I supposed to know, why don't you ask him yourself?"

"Well how do you feel… sorry I don't think I ever caught your name."

"Oh, me. I'm Jake Heartfilia, Lucy's older brother." I said. Wendy and Gray both turned toward me with shocked looks on their faces, but Erza just stared at me and nodded.

"I can see the resemblance, but that doesn't answer my question, are you feeling well enough to go on a job?"

"I don't know, I feel fine, but I haven't even tried. Why do you want me to go on a job?"

"To test your skills, I want to assess if what Romeo said is true?" I was shocked, Romeo seeing me use my abilities had completely slipped my mind, did everyone know about my abilities?

"So you just want to see what I can do?" I paused to think if I should reveal how much I

can do. I could feel the immense amount of power that Natsu, Gray, and Erza each possessed, if I made the wrong move they might find me an enemy. "Why not, I feel much better and would love to get to know each of you a little better."

"Then its settled, we'll all go on a job together, but we want to see what you can do Jake, we're only there if you can't handle it. Alright lets get going."

"Aye sir!" The blue cat yelled.

"What, the cat can talk?"

"We aren't cats, we are a highly advanced race known as the Exceeds." The white female cat said.

"Don't mind her, we are cats. I'm Happy and she's Carla, nice to meet you Jake." Happy said to me, he smiled at me and I smiled back.

"Well now that we have that settled, lets pick a job to go on." Natsu said and ran out of the room, each of them followed behind him until it was only me and Lucy in the room.

It was quiet, she hadn't said anything since I she had brought out the locket, she hadn't stopped looking at it since then. "Why didn't they tell me, why keep it a secret that I had a brother?" she said in a quiet voice, she was shaky and I could tell she didn't understand everything that was happening so quickly.

"They loved you and they thought I was dead, I think they wanted to put my memory behind them. I'm so sorry I wasn't there in the past, but I was always keeping tabs on you and dad. I wanted to be there to stop him from hiring that guild to kidnap you, or when he lost all his fortune." I started crying, but it was no use trying to stop. I wanted to confess everything to her and try to make thing right. "I will never stop trying to protect you, but if you want me to leave after this job I'll understand. I will return to the shadows and never bother you again."

"Why would I want that?" She began crying, but she had a grin on her face. "You're the only family I have left, I'm going to keep you close to me forever, we are the Heartfilia Heir, it is our responsibility to bring honor to our family name."

I got up and hugged her, this was my purpose, to protect her and restore the honor that once belonged to our family.

"Well they are waiting for us, I guess we should get going." Lucy stood up and wiped her eyes and smiled. "Are you coming?"

"Of course." I smiled and followed her out the door.


	4. A Test of Skill

"This should be perfect for a job to test you, catching bandits is child's play for mages. What do you think?" Erza asked, she had already gone and picked a piece of paper from their job board.

"I've never gone on a quest before, if you think it's a good job then I'll take your word."

"Never gone on a quest before? What have you done to make money your whole life then?" Gray said as they each turned towards the guild's exit.

" I traveled the country, trying to stay hidden from Lucy and my father who both didn't need someone to come back into their lives, especially after losing our mother. I made money by helping with any problems that happened in the town I passed through."

"So you were kind of like a vigilante right? Traveling around fighting the bad guys and bringing justice? Dude, you were a superhero!" Natsu said. His entire attitude had changed, it was as if he was a new person."

"Not really, but you can think about it however you want to think about it. But back to the job, where is it located?"

"Not far outside of Magnolia, their camp is set only a few miles outside of the town boundaries. They have been attacking travelers who come to town. The job itself is worth very little but should prove a good test of what you can do."

"Sounds fine to me, I don't think there is much to show about my magic. Let's get a move on though so we can be back before dark."

We turned to walk towards the exit of the guild, but before we could leave a voice spoke, calling out to us, "Just where do you think you're all going?" We all turned around to see a short, old man looking up at us.

"Oh, Master, we were just going out to check Jake's abilities. After that we can assess if he lives up the what Romeo spoke of." Erza replied, she seemed to have the utmost respect for the short man.

"Ahh, I see, are you sure you are fully healed? We wouldn't want you to hurt yourself again."

"Oh, me? I'll be fine, I had been so focused on finding the guild and Lucy that I had forgotten to eat and sleep for almost three days, but I should be fine now." I replied.

"Good, good. Well, I'll leave Erza to watch over you. By the way, I'm am this guild's master, my name is Makarov."

"Come on Gramps, I want to see how strong he is, then I'll know if it'll be worth my time to fight him." Natsu broke in, he grabbed my shoulder and began to drag me out the door. "Don't worry about gramps, he is always concerned about the people who come under the guild's care." Natsu was grinning widely as he continued to pull me by my shirt collar.

"Is he kind of like a father to the guild?"

"Not really, more like a guardian. He has his grandchild Laxus who is also a part of the guild so he's never really been a parent to us, but he has looked out for most of us since we were kids." Gray answered my question as I pulled away from Natsu.

"Okay. Is everyone from Fairy Tail this friendly? Don't get me wrong, it's nice, but I feel a bit overwhelmed by how much everyone is worrying over me."

"We're like a big family, if you enter through those doors you become part of that family. Don't worry though, it become second nature after a little while." Wendy answered cheerily. Each member of Fairy Tail seemed to feel very close to the guild, but at the same time each was so welcoming to a stranger. Maybe I was wrong to try and come back into Lucy's life when she already had found a family to treasure. As we continued to walk I debated if I could really find a place in this "family".

When we arrived on the outside of Magnolia it was early afternoon, and the sun hung high in the sky. It was the kind of day that would normally be spent shopping or eating at a restaurant with friends. Instead I was sitting in the back of a carriage with Natsu, Lucy, Happy, Carla, and Wendy.

"So does he get like this all the time?" I asked, staring at Natsu who was keeled over holding one hand on his stomach and the other over his mouth.

"Only when he rides in vehicles. He has terrible motion sickness." Happy answered.

"But if he gets motion sick, why would he suggest that we use a carriage to lure out the bandit?"

" Natsu, if you hadn't noticed, likes to act before he thinks out what he's actually doing. He probably totally forgot about his motion sickness and just wanted to get into a fight." Lucy answered as she shrugged.

"But I thought I was supposed to do this job on my own so you could see what my magic is like?"

"You would be right, but the fool isn't the most perceptive of people. He means well, but he needs to learn how to remember more than what happened five minutes ago." Carla sighed.

Just then the cart stopped and there were voices outside. They sounded as if they were arguing about something and then Erza and Gray stepped off the cart causing it to lean to the side for a moment.

"Don't check the back though, the goods in there are the only thing keeping our family from going bankrupt." Gray pleaded with the thieves. His performance was convincing, but I couldn't hear Erza saying anything. There was some crunching noises as someone walked around the back, the curtains began to tighten as someone grasped them. "Show time" I thought to myself.

When the curtains were pulled back I jumped out and slammed the ground with my fist, manipulating the sand to create a thick veil in the area surrounding the kart. I called on my magic to summon my bow and arrow and picked off the one their who stood in front of me. I then began to shrink down until I had taken the form of a crab and slid underneath the kart. As the dust cleared the thieves began to calm down and recoordinate. They threw Erza and Gray in the back with the others and began looking for what caused the commotion. I crawled over to the edge of the road, where I would have enough room to make my next move.

The thieves came back together after their quick search failed to find me. They circled together and seemed to be discussing how they should deal with the lack of goods to sell. I took this chance to launch my assault. I began to grow now, until I had reached the size of a large bull. I snorted to get the thieves attention, and as they turned to face me I began my charge. Most of them froze but two of them quickly dived out of the way and avoided me plowing them into the ground.

"You little piece of shit, thinking you can get the best of us because you have magic? Don't count us out just yet." One of the thieves yelled out to me as he picked himself up from the dirt. I turned back to normal and faced him, placing my back to the one who now stood behind me. To the average eye I was making a huge mistake, you should never turn your back to an enemy, but I had trick up my sleeve.

The one I was facing gave an eerie smile and raised his weapon to charge, and from the crunching sound behind me I could tell that the other bandit had also begun a charge. I quickly used my magic to split myself into two, creating a clone of myself who had his back to mine. This caught the thieves off guard, but neither stopped their charge, if anything they seemed to speed up. One was aiming for my head and the other aiming for my legs, a simple enough strategy to counter. I had one copy of myself jump to the side, completely avoiding both of the attacks, and my other self charged at the foe who was aiming at my head. This caused him to hesitate and give me the best chance to strike, I slid and swept his feet out from beneath him and caused him to slam into the ground. The other bandit continued his charge at the one who had attacked. A crucial mistake it allowed the one who dodged to come from behind and sweep his feet from beneath him.

"That was impressive Jake, but I still don't have clear grasp on what you magic really is. Would you mind explaining how it works?" Erza said as she leaned against the cart.

"I don't really know that I fully understand it, but I'll do my best. Shouldn't we get everyone out of the cart first so they can all hear the explanation?"

"We're already free, we were all watching you fight and I have to say, you've got serious skill. But back to that explanation…" Gray said as he climbed out of the back of the cart, followed by everyone else.

" I guess everyone is already here." Jake sighed, "better strap in, this is going to take a while…"


	5. Who Am I?

_**Hi All, I normally don't post author's notes, but I felt like I should for this one. I'm kinda torn on what to do about this story. I liked the idea originally, but now I feel like I wrote myself into a corner and don't like where I'm going. I'm not going to stop writing, but this story may come to an abrupt end and I want to apologize if it does, I just don't like where I went with it. I'd like to thank everyone who likes this story, and because of you guys I promise it will have an ending, but I don't think it will be as long or anywhere near as good as I hoped. Thank you for your continued support and hopefully you'll continue reading my stories as I get better.**_

"You all know how Lucy has those keys that can summon different celestial spirits, right?" I asked the entire group.

"Of course, one of the guild members is a spirit." Natsu said nonchalantly as he sat down and leaned against a tree. I was somewhat shocked by what Natsu had said, but I decided it would be better to deal with later.

"Well, I have the ability to call upon their powers of the animal they embody. It is the magic known as Celestial Soul." I stopped to allow them to process what I had, just said, but…

"It that is? I thought you said this was going to take a long time." Erza said with a frown on her face, "I was hoping it was something more exciting."

"We-Well I wasn't done yet." I stammered at how quickly Erza had brushed off my magic, "I have two sides to how my power works, I can either take the form of their spirit, such as becoming a bull if I called on Taurus' power, or I can control their element, such as controlling a earth element if I call upon Capricorn."

"I wonder what it would be like if you fought with the same spirit that you were controlling?" Lucy questioned. She seemed interested in my magic the most of all, probably because it most resembled her.

"I've never tried. When I was younger mom just used her spirits to teach me how to control their essence, but she never had me fighting them."

"Wait, you were trained by our mother?"

"Of course, how do you think I learned this magic in the first place. She taught me for almost 10 years, before I was taken away."

"Does that mean that you know Aquarius, Capricorn, and Cancer?"

"Of course, I'm familiar with all 12 of the zodiac keys, as well as quite a few of the minor spirits." Lucy gazed at me with disbelief, I didn't understand why she found what I was saying so amazing, but it suddenly came to me, "You want to know why they've never talked about me, don't you?"

"Well.. yeah, I've been with some of my spirits for my whole life, I just can't believe that they hid something like this from me."

"I think it might be best if you ask them yourselves."

As if on cue a large flash of light came into view and blinded us all. Once the light cleared from our eyes a boy, in a nice black suit, was standing in the middle of the circle we had formed.

"I thought I heard you, how have you been" The boy in the suit said.

"I've been alright, you never told me you were apart of Fairy Tail."

"Well, technically I wasn't apart of the guild last time we met. I was just a spirit trapped in this world." His name was Loke the Lion, the leader of the 12 zodiac gates.

"I guess you're right. I still can't believe that it has been over a decade since the last time we talked. Still, I guess I owe you some gratitude, you watched over her just like I asked, and you kept your promise. Thanks."

"Don't mention it, but I think you should also thank everyone else, I have only been with Lucy for a short time so it wasn't that hard for me, but I know that someone was torn on the issue."

"You're probably right, are we going with you?"

"Of course, we have to celebrate this family reunion." Loke smiled as he said this.

As Loke and I continued to chat the 7 members of Fairy Tail stared at us with confusion. They seemed to be trying to piece together how I knew Loke so well, and why the two of us were able to talk so casually with one another.

"Are you telling me you two know each other." Erza broke in, she sounded annoyed at how well we were getting along.

"No, that doesn't actually matter to you two, plus I would rather not relive that time. I'm here to take all of you to the Celestial Spirit World so was can celebrate the reunion of the Heartfilia family."

"To celebrate the reunion of our family?" Lucy said as if she didn't understand what he was saying, "If you all knew he existed why didn't you just tell me so that we could have been reunited?"

"I asked them to keep it a secret." I answered, "Like I told you before, I wasn't ready to meet you yet, so I asked each of the spirits I met to keep my existence a secret if they met you, and I asked to watch over you if they ever met you."

"Don't be angry with him, he was just doing what he thought was best." Loke said, laying his hand on my shoulder."

"Forget all that," Natsu broke into our conversation, "I heard something about a celebration." He pushed underneath Loke's arm and put both his arms around us as if trying to pull us in for a hug.

"Of course Natsu, I'll just bring all of you to the Celestial Spirit World and we can celebrate." Without saying anything else a golden light flooded the area and engulfed all of us. The next moment that forest clearing was empty and we were all gone.

When our vision had cleared we were standing a large cul-de-sac surrounded by glass like pillars. Beyond the pillars lay what seemed to be millions of swirling stars as well as hundreds of multi-colored planets. We had arrived in Loke's homeworld, the celestial spirit world. "I like to welcome all of you into our home." Loke spoke, as he did he took a bow and waved behind him to the multiple spirits standing behind him.

"Well, looks like I'm the only one that has changed since I last saw all of you." I joked. All of the spirits started laughing and the rushed towards me, almost trampling the other in the process. They all spoke at the same time saying, "Thank God you two finally were reunited." and, "It's great to see the celestial family together again." All the spirits seemed over joyed at our reunion, but one in particular stayed away from not only myself, but Lucy as well.

"It's great to see you all again, but I'm not the only one here, I'm sure you have all met these fines mages of Fairy Tail." I copied Loke's motion and waved towards the the others, and the spirits dispersed talking to the mages and conversing as large amounts of food were brought forth. I took the chance to walk towards where that spirit was, but she didn't seem happy to see me.

"You've got some nerve coming out of the blue like that. She didn't even know you existed until now and yet you're still acting like this all means nothing." She said.

"Aquarius, please, we both know that I'm freaking out on the inside, but if I showed it she might get the wrong impression of me." I smiled. Aquarius the Water Bearer, Layla Heartfilia's most trusted spirit, and the guardian of the Heartfilia family.

"I assume that means you haven't told her everything that you learned in your absence." She sounded as if it annoyed her to hear how much I had put off telling Lucy. This wasn't anything new though, if you were stuck protecting I family for over a century I'm sure I would be ready to kill them as well.

"I can't tell her yet. She's not ready to hear it." I let my head drop and let out a long sigh. We both just stood there in silence for a few moments before I righted myself. "I want to thank you, really, out of all the spirits you have been by my side the longest, and you've kept secrets greater than anyone else."

"It's my job idiot. I thought you were supposed to be smarter than your sister." she sneered back, but she couldn't help but smile. She'd always been like that, no matter how hard I tried to get her to open up she still acted like she hated everything about me. It didn't matter though, I knew that if anyone would stand by me until the bitter end, she would be the one there.

We stood in silence for a second smiling at each other, for once I was back with my guardian. "Shall we join in the festivities then?"

"Of course, I have to make sure the stupid bimbo doesn't get hit on by all those idiot spirits." Aquarius had an angry look on her face as she stared over at Lucy who was being hit on by Taurus. It was in his nature, but it still annoyed me almost as much as it bothered Aquarius. I guess we're just on weird family, but being weird didn't matter, what did matter was that we were family.


	6. The Truth

After what seemed like hours of partying, it was finally time for us to leave. Each of the spirits wished us well and Loke prepared to teleport us back to the human world, but before he could begin there was a loud crash. Everyone turned to see a giant spirit standing with his arms crossed, beneath his giant mustache he had a slight frown, it was a face that belonged to someone I hoped I could continue to avoid for the majority of my life, the Celestial Spirit King.

"Oy, Beardie, I was wondering when you were going to show your face." Natsu spoke before anyone had the chance. I wasn't sure if he was being so casual because he didn't know how much power the Celestial Spirit King had, or because they had a sense of familiarity between them.

"I'm sorry I was did not arrive sooner my friends, but there is a pressing matter I must discuss with the Heartfilia children," The King spoke in a deep monotone voice, as if all the emotion that he had had been drained before speaking. "I must ask the rest of you to leave."

"If it's so important, then why didn't you bring it up sooner?" Gray asked. It seemed that each of the Fairy Tail members knew the King and what power he held, yet they spoke in such a familiar manner with him.

"I did not wish to ruin this happy reunion, but it is of the utmost urgency that I speak to those two." He raised his giant finger and pointed in the direction of Lucy and I. "I'm sorry, but the rest of you must leave. Immediately" and with that he swung his other giant hand. A bright light filled my vision and when it cleared all the spirits and the rest of Team Natsu had vanished. All that remained was Lucy and I.

"Celestial Spirit King, what's so important that you can only talk about it with Jake and I?" Lucy asked. She seemed almost worried, her voice was shaking a bit, and her lack of confidence rattled me as well.

"Ask your 'brother', he knows exactly what I would like to talk to you two about." Both the Celestial Spirit King and Lucy turned to me. I was stuck, I couldn't escape this situation without telling the truth about what I had learned since I had left the Heartfilia manor.

"Jake, what's he talking about? What do you know that you're not telling me?"

I couldn't do this to her, if I did she would never look at me the same way. I began to feel a cold sweat dripping down my forehead, and I felt like all the muscles in my legs were about to collapse. But I didn't, I came to the realization that even if I lied to her, the Celestial Spirit King would end up just telling her the truth and I would look even worse in her eyes.

I took a deep breath and began, "I'm not really your brother. I was adopted by Layla and Jude Heartfilia after their first biological son died. They adopted me because I looked almost identical to their real son who died. After I was 'kidnapped' I learned that it was all apart of a scam to remove 'Jake Heartfilia' from existence." I stopped, because I didn't know if she would react, but instead she just stared at me intently waiting for the rest of the story.

"You're real brother died in a train accident on the family railway. In hopes to save face, the shareholders decided that your parents should not let the story get out of hand and forced them to adopt me. They then proceeded to have people kidnap and kill me so that the company did not suffer."

"That's not possible." Lucy broke in, "My mother would never go along with something like that. She was a kind, loving person, and would never let someone die just to save a stupid company." She was obviously angry, but her voice hadn't changed, it was level and sounded calm to anyone.

"You're right, she didn't care for money or power, she treated me like I was her own child, not some 'replacement'. Jude did the same, they both saw me as their second child not a replacement for first."

"THEN WHY WOULD THEY LET YOU BE TAKEN!" Lucy was yelling now. She began to shake and tears were slowly falling from her eyes. " I DON'T CARE IF YOU'RE MY BROTHER OR NOT! WHY DID MY PARENTS ALLOW YOU TO ALMOST BE KILLED!"

"They didn't. They gave me a fighting chance by giving me magic, but it came with a cost. My magic, the celestial soul, is more than just the power to use the abilities and channel the semblance of celestial spirits, I was gifted with part of their essence and they gave up some of their life force to grant me magic. I'm half human and half celestial." After saying this I heard a slight sound come from behind me.

"Don't be mad Lucy, we gave him part of our power. Your parents begged us to help him quickly learn our magic so that he would not have to die." I turned to see 12 spirits standing behind me, looking at Lucy. Loke was in front, talking for all of them. "But like he said, there was a cost to receiving this magic. Jake was no longer fully human, and like and celestial spirit he can't stay in the human world forever. In your seven year absence he refused to return here and has been suffering the consequences." Each of the spirits had a somber looks on their face, they all knew what I had gone through and what would happen to me because of my choice. One spirit in particular looked away, as not to let either of us see her face.

"It's okay though," I continued for Loke, "I have the adaptability to remain in the human world longer than any spirit, but it is true that I will have to face consequences. By remaining in the human world for such a long time I have whittled away at my life force, and even though I'm technically still fairly young, I will die in a matter of years because of the strain I put on myself. So, I have decided that I will live in the Celestial Spirit World, here I cannot die because of my half-celestial spirit, but I'll won't be able to return to the human world without dying."

With that, everything had been explained, and a huge weight had been lifted from my chest. Lucy was speechless, but it seemed she had calmed down. There wasn't any sound, everyone stood in the silence, but I smiled a bit. Even if Lucy wasn't really my sister, I felt like she was the closest thing I had to family anymore. If anything ever happened to her I would make sure that someone would suffer for it. In the end, the silence was broken by a small whimper. I looked over, and saw that Lucy was silently crying, and as she was trying to cover up her crying face she turned around and brought her arms to her face to wipe away the tears.

"Not my brother, what a load of crap." I was stunned, she was speaking in such a commanding voice, " If my parents went through all the trouble to protect you, who cares if we're related by blood. Why the hell did you kill yourself while trying to find me? Did you think that it would be better if a 'real' Heartfilia survived, that's bullshit." She was getting angry again, but it held a sad tone just beneath the surface.

"I'm sorry Lucy, it wasn't my place to make that decision, but I'm glad I got to meet you, just once." I walked over to her and pulled her close to me, holding her tightly, "I regret not coming back sooner. Not being there when you needed me, and not taking your thoughts into consideration."

"You can't leave, not yet. I don't even really know you yet." She started crying again and hugged me tightly, "You're the only family I have left."

"That's not true. Everyone in Fairy Tail is your family now, they'll look after you, I'm sure. Don't them what happened to me though, they seem to be the kind of people who wouldn't settle for that kind of goodbye." She buried her head into my chest and started laughing while she cried. Every emotion was washing over her, and I could tell that it would take time for her to accept the truth, but I was confident that she would be content with this.

She released me, and took a step back to get one final look at me. She wiped her eyes and smiled before saying, "This isn't goodbye, I'll make sure it isn't."

I laughed, "Of course it isn't, I'll be waiting for you." With that she allowed Loke to take her back to the guild.

Everyone began to clear out, but I continued to stare out at the unending abyss of stars and planets that laid beyond the platform I was on. This was my world now, but I think I could get used to it.

"That little girl is so over dramatic, 'This isn't goodbye', and you aren't any better, 'I'll be waiting for you.' Could have fooled me you two weren't related." Aquarius approached from behind as she mocked our conversation

"You don't have to be so bitter all the time you know. But thank you for being there for her, and for not letting my secret slip. I guess I have the rest of eternity to start making it up to you?"

"No, you don't owe me anything. I'm still indebted to that stupid family of yours, even if you aren't related to them. Just make sure you don't cause trouble for that girl, or I'll make your life hell."

We both laughed at that. I didn't know when I would see Lucy again, but the time would come where we would be reunited again. Until then I could only like one thing 'Good luck, lil' sis.'

_**Wow, didn't think it would take me this long to finish this chapter. I hope that you all enjoyed the story, it was my first, and even though I was hesitant to finish it, I am glad I did. This wasn't the original plan I had for the ending, but I like it quite a bit more than what I had planned. For those who have been here since the beginning, Thank You so much for reading and I hope you'll continue reading my other stories, and for those of you who are new, welcome to my page, and I hope you too enjoyed my story and will take the time to review and maybe read some of my other stories. Well, until the next time I see you, stay well.**_


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